How to Change Your Voice Over the Phone

By Sarah Metzker Erdemir ; Updated September 15, 2017

Sounding different over the phone can be a good way to get rid of unwanted callers, a fun way to play tricks on friends, or even a way for women living alone to feel safer. Changing your voice over the phone can be done with a simple toy voice distorter, or with a more advanced digital voice changer. There are also ways you can change your voice yourself without buying anything.

Change your voice with a toy voice distorter. These usually make your voice sound unnatural, like a robot voice or a high-pitched "chipmunk" voice, but the person on the other end will probably not know it's you, and it will be hard to identify your age or gender.

Try a more expensive digital voice changer to create a range of different voices. These kinds of voice changers allow you to modulate the pitch of your voice, making you sound more male, female, or childlike. If you want your voice to sound natural and not electronic, don't try to alter it too dramatically.

Inhale some helium before speaking on the phone. It will make your voice very high-pitched. It sounds funny to most people, but you won't sound like yourself. Keep the call short or have a supply of helium nearby because the effect lasts less than a minute.

Cover the receiver with a towel. Over the phone, the muffled sound of your voice might make it unrecognizable to someone who doesn't know you very well.

Hold your nose while you speak. This gives your voice a very nasal quality, and it changes consonant sounds like "m" and "n," which can disguise your speaking enough to fool someone.

Change the pitch of your voice to speak higher or lower than you usually do. A high-pitched voice is easier to make by holding your head up and speaking with the upper part of your throat. You can make a low-pitched voice by lowering your chin to your chest and speaking with the lower part of your throat.

Learn to speak with a foreign accent. Pretending you don't speak English well is a good way to get rid of all but the most persistent telemarketers. If you're trying to fool someone who knows you, you will have to raise or lower the pitch of your voice as well. Practice this technique ahead of time to make sure you can keep up the disguised voice and accent without getting tired and switching back to your normal voice.

Hold your mouth in a different position than you normally do when you speak. This can help to change a regional accent. Speaking with your teeth clenched or with your mouth open more widely than usual while significantly raising or lowering the pitch of your voice can make you sound like a different person.

Warning

It is illegal to stalk people or make threats over the phone. Don't use these voice-changing techniques to break the law.